Grumbles from a British Egyptian woman. I study Politics, Philosophy & History in an attempt to make sense of the World & all the stuff that happens in it.

Category Archives: bahrain

What would you do, if you had evidence of the criminal acts of murder, cover-ups, and corruption and you knew you were the only person that had the capacity to bring these injustices out into the open? Would you feel it your duty to your fellow human to do the right thing, by exposing the truth, in spite of the personal danger you would face? Or, would you be complicit in those crimes, and try and forget that you ever had the chance to do something about it?

Bradley Manning is nothing but a hero. The consequences of his bravery and honesty have been further-reaching than he had possibly even imagined. The truth of innocent, defenceless civilians and journalists being gunned down in cold blood as if they were mere characters in a video game, may never have been uncovered if it was not for Bradley. You can see it here yourself, if you have not already. When you have watched it, in the knowledge that innocents died and that it was being covered up, ask yourself what you would have done about it, and whether you would be willing to put your life on the line in the name of justice and humanity? You are only able to watch this because Bradley Manning made it possible.

How much of the protests and the reclamation of power by Arabs has been galvanised by the revelations that Manning enabled? What price is he, now paying? I believe that we should all, as global citizens, as people denied the truth, that we should be standing up for Bradley Manning in the way that he has stood up for truth and justice. The price he is paying is appalling and inhumane. He is being tortured, in Quantico and faces the death penalty. He is in solitary confinement for 23hrs a day and is stripped naked and humiliated in an attempt to break him, breaking the Geneva convention. The inhumanity and hypocrisy of the US Government who has the audacity to preach about human rights and democracy is breathtaking, wasn’t Obama supposed to put a stop to this kind of thing? Is it time he handed back the Nobel Peace Prize? Even a US state official described it as ‘stupid and counterproductive’.

It’s not only the US government, but the UK government, that is complicit in this. Bradley Manning is a UK citizen (as you can see here, Amnesty have made an appeal on his behalf: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/01/bradley-manning-uk-citizen). It is the DUTY of a government to protect it’s citizens, and as Bradley Manning is a UK citizen it is the British government’s responsibility to intervene on his behalf. You have to question the nature of the US-UK ‘Special Relationship’ whereby one allows the other to torture it’s citizens without question, not even bothering with the pretense of responsibility to it’s citizens. Mind you, after Moazzem Baig and the complicity of the UK government, I don’t know why I’m surprised.

On 20th March, the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, there is going to be a day of international solidarity. (http://www.facebook.com/#!/InternationalFriendsOfBradleyManning) After what Bradley Manning has done for us, I think we should all take it upon ourselves to be outspoken in our support and to stand in solidarity with Bradley, for would any of us have been brave enough to do what he has done?

Gaddafi is proving himself to be tyranny & inhumanity, par excellence. As the plane loads of African (& unconfirmed reports of Italian & Ukrainian) mercenaries descend on defenceless citizens to slaughter them, with weapons that were until yesterday afternoon, still licensed to be sold to Gaddafi by the UK. YES, until yesterday!

David Cameron, our Prime Minister is in the Middle East on a tour at the moment – most likely defended as ‘helping the region transition into democracy’. He has taken EIGHT weapons companies with him. The first country he visited on this tour, was my beloved Egypt. Egypt has still not made the transition to a DEMOCRATICALLY elected government. We are living under a military dictatorship, with a junta which has no legitimate right to be making any kind of deals with arms companies, or negotiating with other governments – that is what the elected government will be for, not this unelected bunch of military men.

At a time when so many have already paid the ultimate price for claiming their rights from their governments and when so many governments have already used deadly force on innocents, it is reprehensible that Cameron should be out in the Middle East encouraging and legitimising the inhumane use of weapons by trying to sell them. Shame on him. It remains to be seen whether he will follow in Blair’s footsteps & have the blooded hands of and accomplice to murder.

A swift google of BAE systems will show you the calibre of the companies that want to trade in the Middle East. The types of deals that this company has become infamous for, including bribery, creating slush funds and aiding corruption & oppression wherever they go. One of Britain’s most shameful companies. Exploiting death & oppression for financial gain, is there anything lower than that?

I will leave you with a small clip of Prince Bandar Al-Saud’s comments on the investigation into the billions of dollars put into slush funds for him and the Saud Royal Family by BAE, rather telling of the typical Middle East ‘leader’s’ attitude to corruption and entitlement.

IF YOU ARE IN LONDON TODAY – PLEASE COME ALONG & SHOW YOUR SOLIDARITY WITH THE LIBYANS AT 10 DOWNING ST FROM 3PM.

Unbelievably the other Middle Eastern ‘leaders’ did not learn the right lessons from Ben Ali & Mubarak. Instead of listening to the people, they have cracked down murderously as the events unfolding in Bahrain, Libya, Yemen are proving. Using weapons bought with the permission and mostly likely encouragement from the British Government on innocent and brave but defenceless civilians, the ruling royal family in Bahrain have proven themselves to be the amongst the lowest in all humanity, even bringing in mercenaries to come and murder their own people. They have vindicated the protesters and shown their true colours to the world. Shame on them and their supporters.

The sorrow I feel as an Egyptian watching this is immense. Watching others go through the same inevitable hell to gain freedom and dignity is terrible. Solidarity to my sisters and brothers fighting for freedom everywhere.